NASA Langley keeps fingers crossed, eyes focused forward

HAMPTON – Steve Jurczyk, acting director of the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, breathed a sigh of relief last week when the national space program was allocated $17.5 billion in President Barack Obama's proposed budget for fiscal year 2015.

True, that budget would represent about $186 million less than fiscal year 2014 – but in difficult financial times, especially for federal programs, Jurczyk was not about to complain.

"I was pleasantly surprised," he said Wednesday morning after giving a "round table" presentation to local businesspeople at the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce. "We had come up with plans for a $16.8 billion budget, and for the $16.2 billion we would have been looking at if sequestration had hit. The 16.8 plan was OK to work with, but the 16.2 plan would have involved some very, very difficult cuts.

"Overall, the budget was very good news," he said, especially since the president's Opportunity, Growth and Security Initiative (OGSI) would direct an additional $885 million to NASA, about $93.7 million of which would go toward the construction of Langley's planned Measurement Systems Laboratory.

While he was pleased with the president's proposal, Jurczyk said now he is nervously waiting to see if the U.S. Congress approves it.

"Absolutely, those numbers could still change," he said. "The president proposes and Congress disposes."

Many of NASA's current projects would not be operational for another decade or longer, which Jurczyk said can make for a hard sell at budget time.

At the conclusion of his presentation to the Chamber of Commerce, for example, Jurczyk showed a 3-minute video detailing a mission that would intercept dangerous asteroids, redirect them into a safe orbit, and collect samples that could be retrieved and studied on Earth. The soonest it could be deployed would be 2025.

"This is a big deal, and we need to get working on that now," Jurczyk said. "The technological challenge requires a lot of research and planning, but when you're talking about something that is five or 10 years down the road, it can sometimes be hard to convince people that we need to start working on it now."

Michael Kuhns, president and CEO of the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, said NASA Langley's continued relevance is important to the overall economy of the region.

"It goes beyond just the infusion of federal dollars and the jobs that it brings to the area," Kuhns said. "So much of what NASA Langley brings to the area is in potential. The creative ideas generated there are a big part of developing the entrepreneurial culture on the Peninsula."